POH Review - Jan 15-22

[POHherewecome!]

My daughter, 11, and I traveled on the POH from 15 – 22 January – our first cruise so we had no idea what to expect. Overall, we had a fantastic time. So I apologize in advance if some of my review seems a bit negative at times, but I am hoping it will be useful to others about embark on the same adventure.

EMBARKATION: Our plane arrived in Honolulu at 6.45 am and we took a cab straight to the ship. I had understood beforehand that we’d be able to leave our baggage there early, see a bit of Honolulu and return later in the afternoon to board the ship. NCL, however, didn’t allow us to do this and we had to wait around until after 11 am to register and board the boat. That enabled us to browse around the adjoining Aloha Tower Marketplace, which has an interesting selection of shops, but my plans to explore nearby China Town fell to the wayside because we were stuck with all our baggage (although we did get off the ship later in the afternoon to buy a camera at the nearby CompUSA). The registration and boarding process took about an hour and a half. The staterooms only became available much later that afternoon and getting our luggage to our stateroom also took time. My daughter’s suitcase, containing all our toiletries, only arrived around 11.30pm that night.

STATEROOM: We had booked the cheapest stateroom and were thrilled to find that we had been upgraded, without asking, to a stateroom on deck 8 with two portholes. The view from these was obstructed by a lifeboat but it was great to be able to see whether it was day or night – and not to feel claustrophobic. The stateroom had a phone, TV, hairdryer, fridge, safe and shower. Basically, it was very comfortable and there was more than ample cupboard and drawer space. My daughter was particularly thrilled about the animals they made – swans, an elephant and a rabbit – out of towels, adorned with her own glasses or lei, and left on her bed some nights. Wake up calls are available and there is no need to bring your own beach towels. Towels were available at the pool deck and you could collect beach towels for your excursion as you left the ship. You could also access the daily restaurant menus and entertainment program on the TV in your stateroom. Each day, they also provided a newsletter with an update on what’s happening on the ship. Laundry facilities are available on various decks – free except that you pay $1 for detergent. (One drawback is that you are likely to end up with an odd sock – yours or someone else’s).

THE SHIP: Beautiful and new, but easy to get lost on in the beginning (and we did). My one frustration were the lifts – long waits, some never stopped when they should have and the buttons for Deck 12 – the most widely visited deck because it has the pools and Aloha Nui Café - were broken in some lifts and we often had to get out on Deck 11 and walk up. Hopefully NCL has fixed this by now.

FOOD: We always ate breakfast at the Aloha Nui Café because it offers a buffet and we could eat quickly before leaving for excursions in the morning. It had a good selection of fruits and you could have eggs or omelets made to order, but on the whole, I’d say the offering was pretty ordinary and mostly the same each day. There always seemed to be endless hiccups with the coffee machines – I don’t think these machines were built to cater for such heavy duty.

My daughter loved being able to go to the Aloha Nui Café at any time of day or night to grab an ice cream in a cone. This café also had a special kids buffet. And, for the health conscience, it seemed to offer a good array of salads through the day.

We didn’t eat lunch on the boat on most days but when we did, we ate at the Blue Lagoon, which served burgers, fried chicken, meat loaf and fish and chips etc (not great if you are watching your weight, but they did offer a Caesar salad as a side dish). The service was good and the food reasonable, but as far as I can recall, the menu never changed. Towards the end of the cruise, I discovered that I could help myself to coffee at any time from the Blue Lagoon, which was on the same deck as us and a short walk away from our stateroom, rather than having to schlep up to Deck 12 each time and wait in lines. Wish I had discovered that earlier!

We didn’t eat at dinner at any specialty restaurants. However, a number of fellow cruisers said it had definitely been worth paying the surcharge to eat in some of these. I didn’t make any reservations for the non-specialty restaurants. When I tried to I was told that they only did this for bigger groups. But we never waited for a table. Sometimes we got a table for just the two of us. At other times we were asked if we’d be willing to share, which turned out to be a good way to meet other cruisers and hear what they’d done that day. We either ate at the Grand Pacific or the Alizar. I believe they have the same menus. The service was usually good although they seemed to really struggle with the load on the last night. The food was also reasonably good and I really have no real complaints – only two feeble moans. These are that they didn’t provide much in the way of salads or vegetables with the non-vegetarian meals and that the lobster on lobster night was disappointing – tiny and tough!

For what its worth (and I wonder whether it’s even worth mentioning), drinks are slightly cheaper when sailing (i.e. when the boat’s not at port) because no tax is charged. The bar lady at Tankards, by reception, was amazing. I couldn’t believe how she remembered exactly how I like my cocktail.

KIDS: Although she went once to the kids club, my daughter didn’t want to go again because there weren’t really children her age there at the time (not US school holidays). I believe there were only 50 kids in total on this cruise whereas there had been 600 a week or two before. They did seem to have a reasonable program, but appeared to only operate at limited times.

ENTERTAINMENT: A great way to wind down after a tiring day of sightseeing was to sit at the pool deck, sipping a cocktail and listening to the band playing Hawaiian music. On the first night, they also had some great hula dancers and we were presented with orchid leis, which my daughter loved.

I believe there was also good live music at some of the bars, but being with an 11 year old, I never got to hear any of it. But we did do two shows each night and these were excellent. The ship’s comedian and magician/illusionist were great and we loved the musical productions. The talent show at the end of the cruise was also great fun and I was amazed at the level of talent it attracted (most of the contestants were already well known to the karaoke regulars on the ship).

INTERNET CAFÉ: I paid $55 for 100 minutes of Internet access. Sadly, the system is so slow. I understand that this is because it’s all via satellite. It took me about 20 minutes just to get into my mailbox on my service provider’s site. And, then every action took forever. I believe it was probably the same for all those poor cruisers trying to use their laptops in their staterooms. The whole experience was just tooooo frustrating. My advice is to avoid using the Internet access on the ship and zip into an Internet café when ashore. Phone calls were also expensive from the ship – I believe $5.95 a minute.

VIEWING OF LAVA FLOW AND NA PALI CLIFFS: I don’t believe our ship was full at the time so we had easy viewing of these sights. I found the best place to see them was from the back of the Aloha Nui Café. This Café always seemed closed at the time (which may have deterred people), but if you ignored that and walked through the dining room to the outside back area you were able to get a great place from which to see the sights and even a seat and table if you came early enough. If all else failed, it was also easy to get a good spot on Deck 7 because most people seemed to be crowding up on Deck 12 or 13.

EXCURSIONS: The ship’s excursions are not for everyone. You are usually on a big bus with lots of people and I often felt that we were being herded around like cattle. While you may rush to be back at the bus at the designated time, there will invariably be some people that take their time and keep the whole bus waiting. For those who like their freedom, it may be better to hire a car and do it yourself. And it would be cheaper if you are a group of people. That said, by doing it yourself, you could miss out on a lot of great commentary and snippets from the tour guides. What I particularly liked was that some guides told us a lot about their own lives and what it’s really like for them to live in Hawaii.

Most of the excursions I booked were through the NCL. I kept reading on the boards about how people had booked non-NCL excursions and saved tons of money, but I didn’t find it so easy when I tried to do the same myself. I think the main reason for this is that I wasn’t going to hire a car – we are from Australia and I was a bit nervous of driving on the other side of the road. When I did find a non-NCL excursion that I liked, it turned out that we still had to get to the place where it started from and that would have cost us in terms of taxis. Some tours also left or returned at times that would have been cutting it extremely fine, given the POH’s stated arrival or departure times at the different ports. And, some tour operators, like Polynesian Adventure Tours, would not take my booking because they have a contract with NCL. There was also the tendering situation in Kona – if you didn’t get off the boat in time, you could miss the non-NCL tour while if you are on an NCL-booked excursion, you get priority for the tender and the tour will always wait for you. In the end, I decided any small savings there might be by booking with someone else were far outweighed by the security of knowing that if something went wrong, the ship would have to wait for you because you’d booked through them. In the end, the only thing we didn’t do with NCL was our helicopter ride in Kona. That said, I should note that NCL has put together a great array of excursions covering all the highlights and these were always well managed and professional. I also understand that some tour operators had to alter their offerings to fit in with NLC’s stringent requirements. The Hollywood in Hawaii excursion, for example, may seem cheaper if you try and book it yourself, but I am told that the NCL-booked version is an hour longer because NCL wanted them to add a couple of extra stop offs. I did try and book this excursion on my own while in Kauai, but they wouldn’t take my booking once they realized I was on the on the cruise.

I recommend booking your NCL excursions in advance. I booked four of the five excursions we did with NCL in advance online and got onto them all. You can always cancel if you change your mind. (If I recall correctly, you have to give 24 hours notice to avoid being charged anything, but please check this yourself). I tried to book the fifth one (Hollywood in Hawaii) three days before leaving for the cruise and was informed that you couldn’t book it so close to departure. I then tried to book it once on the ship, but was told it was full. We went on a waiting list and only found out at 11pm the night before that we’d got on the excursion. They promised to deliver the tickets to our stateroom that night. I waited and waited. (It had an extremely early departure time and I was hesitant about waking my exhausted child so early if we weren’t really on the tour). The ticket never arrived and there was no one at the excursion desk the next morning. Without the ticket, we had trouble getting on the tour. We finally did get on, but it was all extremely stressful. To be honest, while I am sure there are some great people working in the POH excursion team, those I dealt with weren’t really helpful and occasionally rude. If you book ahead, you don’t have to stand in lines at the excursion desk and are assured of getting onto the tours you want.

We did excursions every day and, to be frank, that may have been a mistake. Many of the excursions had extremely early departure times and you still wanted to have breakfast before hand. By the end of the cruise, we were totally exhausted, given that we also wanted to see the shows at night. We had an absolute ball and saw a lot of the Islands, but we didn’t leave the ship feeling relaxed or rested.

Here are the excursions we did:

Hilo - Volcano National Park. Very interesting, but we were jetlagged and our guide had a rather “sing song” voice, so we couldn’t keep our eyes open on the bus and missed a lot of the commentary.

Maui Day 1 – We took the "Lahaina on Your Own" excursion. From Lahaina, we caught a $1 shuttle to Ka'anapali Beach where we hired covered deck chairs and spent a few idyllic hours. We later returned to Lahaina and did the historic tour on our own, having picked up a map at the Baldwin house (and some shopping). By doing this we were able to replicate some of the “Beach Day in Maui” excursion and enjoy the best of two worlds.

Maui Day 2 – Whale Watching Cruise with Pacific Whale Watching Foundation. As I heard the boat’s captain report back to base on his radio, this trip was a “loser”. While fellow POH cruisers had seen dozens of whales the day before, we didn’t see many. It was just bad luck. But we still enjoyed learning all about whales from the experts and hearing the whale’s “talk” via underwater sensors. Coming back to the harbor, we also saw sea turtles.

Kona – Captain Zodiac Snorkel. On this excursion we saw about the same amount of (if not more) whales than the day before, as well as dolphins. The snorkeling was great. It was particularly fascinating for me as an Australian to snorkel at the spot where Captain James Cook was murdered. Captain Cook was the first European to discover Australia (and, of course, Hawaii). On the way back, we explored some sea caves and learnt a bit about their geology. But what was really thrilling was the way they drove the zodiac at full throttle towards these caves and then braked suddenly. In the afternoon, we took a free shuttle from the Pier to Hilo Hatties (it's only a few blocks away but up a steep hill) – not really of interest to us because we were saving our souvenir buying until the end of our trip and disappointing because there were no interesting shops nearby. The beach to the left of the Pier (when facing the sea) was also disappointing and uninviting, but we found some delightful shops when we walked further along (to the left), great Kona coffee and a cheap (high speed) Internet café. When we returned to board the ship we found very long lines for the tender so we decided to go across the road for drinks at a restaurant from where we could watch how the line went. Sadly, however, it never seemed to shorten so after an hour or so, we joined the queue (which surprising moved pretty quickly anyway).

Kauai Day 1 - Helicopter ride with Safari helicopters. This was a great way to see Kauai and we enjoyed every minute of it. I chose Safari Helicopters because I had read good reviews about them and because they were a bit cheaper than others. I think I paid $169 per person and I believe our ship charged around $225 for their helicopter excursion. Safari also fetched us from the pier in Nawiliwili and the pilot, retired from the military, was excellent. Later that afternoon, we spent time at the beach next to the pier. This was a much more attractive beach than the one at Kona’s pier and very relaxing. We also went to the nearby Duke’s Canoe Club for a sundowner. This area is close to the pier but even easier to access by taking the free shuttle to the Anchor Cove shopping centre.

Kauai Day 2 - Hollywood in Hawaii. This complimented the previous day’s helicopter ride perfectly and was a good way to see some great spots in Kauai that you may not see on other more regular Kauai tours. And it was underpinned all the time with an interesting story line about movies, TV shows and famous stars. You didn’t have to have seen any of the films or TV shows to enjoy the trip. My daughter's highlight was going to the Coco Palms Hotel where Blue Hawaii was shot and standing where Elvis had stood before her many years ago. I was particularly fascinated seeing what’s happened to this once grand hotel and hearing about its glamorous past. It is about to become part of a big condo redevelopment and I am glad I got to see it before this happens.

OAHU: We stayed at the ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel after the cruise and were very happy with our choice, (although I regretted forking out so much for an ocean view room because we hardly ever went out on our lanai). We were mainly out and about and watched the sunset from the beach or while having a drink at different hotels on the beach. Some of our hotel’s special touches include:

Great Flat Screen TVs in the room

Extremely comfortable beds

Lively Hawaiian décor in the rooms

Hawaiian music and hula dancing at breakfast time and in the evening

Complimentary breakfast which you pack into a complimentary cooler bag and which you can eat on the beach, in your room or take on an excursion with you. I’m sure that many guests also used this to stock up for lunctime.

A large magnifying mirror in the bathroom

That said, the hotel’s plumbing and the lifts didn’t seem to work too well and are in need of some attention.

We spent our days shopping or on the beach, but also took tours to Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). I booked the Alii Luau package at the PCC online about five weeks in advance and got the best seating available for the Horizons Show in the Alii Luau category – front row and nearest the centre of the stage. By paying $10 more per person when we arrived we were also able to take a guided tour, which was really worth the money. I doubt we would have seen as much as we did on our own and would probably have missed many of the shows. The guide knew exactly when shows started and how to get to them – and of course was able to impart great information.

My daughter especially loved bargaining for souvenirs at the International Market Place in Waikiki and browsing through the ABC Stores on every block. Souvenir prices are definitely a bit cheaper at the International Market Place than at the ABC Stores, but I don’t believe we were able to secure any outstanding deals despite our best bargaining tactics.

We also particularly enjoyed our meals at Tiki’s and Cheeseburger in Paradise along the Waikiki Beach strip.

DUTY FREE SHOPPING at Honolulu Airport was extremely disappointing. There wasn’t much selection at all and very few duty free shops. I had planned to buy my stepson an ipod, but found that absolutely no electronic goods were on sale in the airport. I was also greatly mislead by the sales lady at the duty free shop. She assured me repeatedly and with great confidence that you were allowed to bring in two cartons of cigarettes into Australia. In fact, you are only allowed to bring in 250 cigarettes. I willingly declared the mistake as soon as I got to customs in Australia but had both cartons confiscated because I wasn’t going to pay the AUD $109 “fine”/duty they demanded. I’d have at least thought they’d let me keep one carton, because you are allowed that in, and because I’d been totally honest and forthcoming. I am only mentioning this because the customs official informed me that this happens many times each day to people arriving in Australia.

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve written such a long review and if you’ve made it to the end, well done!!! I hope you aren’t the only one.

[Browezilla]

Thank you so much for the excellent review. On the Na Pali viewing and lava viewing, do you feel the ship was really close, or would you recommend also taking a smaller boat tour of Na Pali.

 

I've had some excellent vacations in Australia/NZ. Australians are the friendliest folks I've met. Still trying to get the sulphur smell out of my suitcase from Rotorua though :-)

[Browezilla]

dupe

[POHherewecome!]

Thank you so much for the excellent review. On the Na Pali viewing and lava viewing, do you feel the ship was really close, or would you recommend also taking a smaller boat tour of Na Pali.

 

I've had some excellent vacations in Australia/NZ. Australians are the friendliest folks I've met. Still trying to get the sulphur smell out of my suitcase from Rotorua though :-)

 

I didn't feel that the ship was that close to the lava, to be honest. It was just a blur of red on the horizon, but I cant say whether we were there on a good or bad viewing day.

 

I do believe the ship gave us a good view of the Na Pali coast line. I am sure we got a closer view during the helicopter ride, but I cant recall there being a big difference in what we saw. You still get a reasonable view from the boat.

 

BTW: If you are still trying to get the sulphur smell out of my suitcase from Rotorua, you may get a strong whiff of the same if you go to the Volcano National Park.

[aucruiser]

PHOherewecome! thanks for posting your review. It sounds like you made the most of your time on each island with some good planning.

[Twinkee]

POHherewecome! thanks so much for the POH report. My fiance and I are going in August and it will be our first time to Hawaii. Your report was really helpful.

 

Do you happen to know how the specialty restaurants work? What is the surcharge?

[POHherewecome!]

Do you happen to know how the specialty restaurants work? What is the surcharge?

 

I didn’t book any specialty restaurants, but my understanding is – and I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong – that the following rates may apply:

Cagney's Steakhouse - $15 per-person surcharge. For surf and turf, a whole lobster or a 24-once Porterhouse, you'll pay $10 more.

Jasmine Garden - $10 (It also offeres Sushi and Shabu Shabu)

Teppanyaki - $20

Le Bistro - $10

I’ve heard that from 5:30 until 6:30 p.m., cover charges at specialty restaurants (excluding sushi, Teppanyaki and a la carte items) may be discounted by half.

I imagine that you’ll sign for it and the charges will form part of your bill at the end of the cruise. You also have a period in which you can cancel your booking.

But the advice in many reviews is that you do need to make reservations at these restaurants as soon as you get on the ship.

[POHherewecome!]

Just to add that its worth checking whether Paniolo Tapas & Salsa and Papa's Italian Kitchen do charge a cover. Since we've returned, I've read somewhere that they don't - which gives me one regret: that we never tried them. I remember reading some good reviews about Papa's on this website.

My view on the trip was that we were already getting good enough meals on the boat (and my child isn't great when it comes to trying anything other than steaks and burgers) that I'd reserve my extra spending for other things. But it did get a bit a dull going to the main dinning rooms over and over again.

[bccruiser2007]

We were also in the cruise on POH from Jan 15-22nd. Cagneys cover charge was $20.00. La Bistro was $15.00. Jasmine was $10.00 and Teppanyaki was $20.00. There was no charge for the Italian and Mexican Restaurants. We ate at them all and the service and food was excellent. For your information, they have discontinued the early 1/2 price cover charge.

 

John

[beachchick]

Just to add that its worth checking whether Paniolo Tapas & Salsa and Papa's Italian Kitchen do charge a cover. Since we've returned, I've read somewhere that they don't - which gives me one regret: that we never tried them. I remember reading some good reviews about Papa's on this website.

My view on the trip was that we were already getting good enough meals on the boat (and my child isn't great when it comes to trying anything other than steaks and burgers) that I'd reserve my extra spending for other things. But it did get a bit a dull going to the main dinning rooms over and over again.

 

Papa's and Paniolo do not have a cover charge.

 

The upcharges in December were

 

Cagney's $15 p/p (with the add'l $10 for the whole lobster or surf and turf or HUGE porterhouse)

Jasmine $10 p/p

Teppanyaki $20 p/p

Shabu-shabu and sushi (I think) $10 p/p

Le Bistro, don't know we didn't go there

 

Half-price every night when booked between 5:30 and 6:30.

 

Well shoot--You're going to have to cruise on PoH again so you can try Papa's and Paniolo.:D

 

beachchick

[beachchick]

We were also in the cruise on POH from Jan 15-22nd. Cagneys cover charge was $20.00. La Bistro was $15.00. Jasmine was $10.00 and Teppanyaki was $20.00. There was no charge for the Italian and Mexican Restaurants. We ate at them all and the service and food was excellent. For your information, they have discontinued the early 1/2 price cover charge.

 

John

 

Well that stinks! We booked early Tuesday (lava night) in Jasmine and another night, also Jasmine, later in the week. (I have to confess that we hugely overtipped those two nights because we had excellent service both times and I had budgeted the dinner money anyway; so we didn't save much money with the half-price deal.)

 

 

beachchick

[Molokai-Chuck]

Thanks for the great review you posted! Good info to use and go by.

 

Chuck

[September_honeymoon]

Thank you for your review ! We'll be on the POH in March. Did you keep the dailies ?

[POHherewecome!]

Did you keep the dailies ?

 

No, we didn't! I wanted to keep travelling light. I am sorry now. I am thinking that I should have, as well as the ticket stubbs, so we could have done a “scrap book” of our trip. Great project for my child! While you are there, you remember everything (and think you always will), but it later all fades away. That's why I am so glad I've done this review.

Many thanks to every one who provided details on the dinner cover. I think I kept my list from a professional review by this site done soon after the POH's inaugural voyage and it appears that they probably have changed – or keeping changing - the cover charge, depending on circumstances. I recall asking about the half price early cover onboard and was told it wasn’t being offered, which confirms bccruiser2007's comments.

 

I suppose that NCL is still fiddling around the edges to make the Freestyle dining work. If its of any value, I'll note that we didn't really take the notice boards informing us of which dining rooms were full that seriously. I figured that if the rest of the ship was avoiding a place because it was full, and going to another, we'd have a chance of getting in. The dining rooms are so big, that there has to a be a few tables leaving at any time. It seemed to work for us, but I imagine if too may people do it, it wont work.

 

Thanks Beachick, you've given me a great excuse for doing the cruise again!

[Zeno]

great detailed review!

[bluessisters]

Thanks for this reveiw. We are off next month and I cant wait.

Do you know what the smoking policy is like on the POH? And what was the food like at the Polynesian Cultural Center?

[POHherewecome!]

Do you know what the smoking policy is like on the POH? And what was the food like at the Polynesian Cultural Center?

 

What was the food like at the Polynesian Cultural Center?

Not that good – a mass produced buffet that seemed a bit dried out. Don’t go there if you are only going for the food. There’s so much more to the center than the food.

For what its worth, I had the Aloha Friday Hawaiian Plate ($20) at Tiki’s at the ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel in Honolu. That restored my faith in Hawaiian food. I’ve just checked the menu and it includes Kālua pig, lau lau, lomi salmon, ‘ahi poke, mashed Okinawan sweet potatoes and coconut haupia. I just loved the banana butter served with the taro rolls and managed to eat all three rolls, mainly because I liked the butter so much.

Smoking on the POH?

I don't know the exact policy but I can tell you that its probably much easier to smoke on the ship than anywhere else these days. Our stateroom was a smoking room. You were hit by such a strong smell of stale smoke when you walked in. I’d advise non-smokers to ask for a non-smoking room in advance when they book, if it exists. I didn’t know you could smoke in the rooms so never dreamed on making that request. You could also smoke outside on Deck 7, and on the starboard side of the pool deck and some bars like the Spinnaker Lounge, as well as the outside area at the back of the Aloha Nui Café. Ashtrays seemed widely available.

[beachchick]

There are no non-smoking cabins. I'm surprised you had such a problem with the stale smoke smells because the ionizers machines they use are so good. Did your cabin steward offer to use one to clear the room? We don't smoke and have been lucky enough to never have issues with stale smoke in our cabin or with balcony neighbors who smoke non-stop day and night.

 

I'm sorry you had such an unpleasant experience. Yuck.

 

beachchick

[POHherewecome!]

There are no non-smoking cabins. I'm surprised you had such a problem with the stale smoke smells because the ionizers machines they use are so good. Did your cabin steward offer to use one to clear the room? We don't smoke and have been lucky enough to never have issues with stale smoke in our cabin or with balcony neighbors who smoke non-stop day and night.

 

I'm sorry you had such an unpleasant experience. Yuck.

 

beachchick

 

I didn't realise that there were no non-smoking cabins or that you could use ionizers machines to clear the room. You live and learn! It was just very bad on the day we embarked and my child, the drama queen, made a huge fuss about it. (I think its because someone had been smoking in the toilet and maybe it doesn't have the same ventilation as the rest of the cabin). But after that, it went away and we never thought about it.

[POHherewecome!]

Come to think of it, we never saw our cabin steward the entire trip, but he/she did respond in writing to my child's post-its on how much she loved the towel animals.

[bluessisters]

Thanks POHherewecome and Beachchick for your replies.

Just wondering about the talent contest menstioned above. What kind of acts do they have, how does one enter it and who judges it.

[POHherewecome!]

Just wondering about the talent contest mentioned above. What kind of acts do they have, how does one enter it and who judges it.

 

I'm not sure how you enter the contest. It seemed that a lot of the contestants had been hanging out in the Karaoke lounge during the week. The quality of the 10 contestants was mostly very good which may suggest that they were screened before hand - cant tell.

 

Most of the contestants on our cruise were singers, but one did a hula dance and a much older lady related the somewhat unusual (but funny) tale of how she was left with a boob stuck in a mamogram machine during a fire.

 

The contest was judged by four POH staff members and the prize was a free cruise. It wasn't hard to predict winner. The audience had given him a standing ovation after his performance.

 

With a name like Bluessisters, do I detect some talent hiding in the wings?

[POHherewecome!]

BTW: I'm just loving getting questions. Its keeping my holiday alive for longer - a great distraction from work.

[beachchick]

I'm not sure how you enter the contest. It seemed that a lot of the contestants had been hanging out in the Karaoke lounge during the week. The quality of the 10 contestants was mostly very good which may suggest that they were screened before hand - cant tell.

 

Most of the contestants on our cruise were singers, but one did a hula dance and a much older lady related the somewhat unusual (but funny) tale of how she was left with a boob stuck in a mamogram machine during a fire.

 

The contest was judged by four POH staff members and the prize was a free cruise. It wasn't hard to predict winner. The audience had given him a standing ovation after his performance.

 

With a name like Bluessisters, do I detect some talent hiding in the wings?

 

Yikes! I can barely stand my semi-annual boob-squashing for the couple of minutes it takes to complete each x-ray. :eek:

 

We aren't talent show fans, so I have absolutely no information on it except that the show was Sunday night.

 

 

beachchick

[POHherewecome!]

Yes, beacchick I can attest that it was an extremely unusual story with the poor dear shaking like a leaf for the whole time that she related it.